Senators expressed shock and sorrow at the news that former Sen. Alicia "Chucky" Hansen’s son was shot and killed Tuesday and all of them, in turn, offered their condolences to Hansen and her family on their loss, during a zoning hearing Wednesday evening.
Sen. Kurt Vialet said, "I offer my condolences to the families of the numerous other individuals killed in the last two weeks. I count six individuals killed on St. Croix in the last two weeks. That is just a staggering number and we have to do something to stop it."
Sen. Novelle Francis offered his "condolences to all who have lost loved ones these last weeks and months and also to Sen. Hansen on her loss today."
Sen. Almando "Rocky" Liburd said, "We continue to fight each other and the only thing we seem to know is to destroy.” We have “to find some way to reach out and talk to our young people and talk to our communities,” he said. “I too offer my condolences but we’ve got to do more than that and find some way to reach out to people.”
Sen. Justin Harrigan said, "It is astonishing and we feel almost helpless. … Money is not the issue here it has to do with behavior."
Sen. Myron Jackson agreed. "I’d like to join with my family with extending my condolences to the Hansen family, Mr. and Mrs. Hansen and their extended family."
He said, "Nov. 3 was the birthday of my father who was senselessly killed in 1982 in a crime that has never been solved." Jackson said the Legislature needed to respond to the senseless killing of young black men with appropriate policies and funding.
Sen. Jean Forde said, "We have a problem, the amount of murders, the amount of deaths that have taken place. This is not a problem where the Legislature is going to put some money to it and the problem is cured. This is a community problem… We have failed … We have to provide the guidance to help them stay on the straight and narrow."
Sen. Neville James said after giving his condolences, "I can recall there was a time in the Legislature we wanted to address the amount of guns in the territory and we increased the penalties, but clearly it hasn’t worked. People say guns don’t kill people, people kill people. People don’t want to hear it, but that’s a fact," he said, in part.